Ashes of the Past Flames of New Beginings
by nightwing426
Summary: It has been five years since the Titans have lost one of their own. Things haven't been the same, but when a forgotten friend shows up will a past life be remembered or will things crumble to ash? Rated Pg-13 for later chapters.
1. Out of the Ashes

Disclaimer: I don't any of the songs (in late chapters) or characters in this story.

_Italics = thoughts_

Chapter One: Rising Out of the Ashes

It was a stormy night the lightning flashed and the thunder boomed in a wild maelstrom of light and power. This set the tone of the gruesome scene. The corner of this city lied in ruin the highest skyscrapers were in rubble and the entire scene looked as if a meteor hit the city and in a sense for some.... it did. Five shadowy figures were in his line of vision, a tall bulky form of a man that had sparks flying from his body. Another one was off to his left he had an outline of an elf but that was impossible there were no such things. On his left helping the first figure had a foreign sense to her, her eyes were glowing a neon green that cut through the darkness, but the figure right in front of him had most of his view, then again he wasn't really looking at anything he was broken just like the crumpled form off to the side of his vision. The woman in front of him had a dark and mysterious presence she was on her knees as well with him trying to get him to come around out of his stupor.

Out of nowhere a pair of hands, her hands, were on his shoulders talking to him in muffled tones ones that he couldn't make out then the hands reached to the temples of his head. His mind was crumbling guilt, hate, and sorrow quickly driving him into madness. Her hands were now on his head and she began to chant there.... was a struggle of the minds and his finally snapped but her presence brought him back then there was a moment when he felt something a....a veil or covering slide from his face, but there was resistance and then a bright light enveloped his vision as the young woman in front of him started screaming

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO----"

"OOOOOOOOOOOO!" the scream of the dream melted into his own voice yelling and in doing so waking him up with a jolt, he realized that he was bolt upright and his dagger was out from underneath his pillow menacing the empty space around him.

He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his medium length jet black hair _Just a dream _he thought _that dream _he corrected himself.

Letting out another sigh he laid back down on his bed and gazed out his apartment window at the early dawn of the city people were rousing from their beds to begin a new day. His gaze went to the dagger still in his hand. It was a magnificent blade obviously not factory made it had a cast pewter handle very plain at the beginning but when you got to the hilt of the blade it was quite extraordinary the hilt had a bird of some sort spreading it's wings while a firestorm erupted from the wings to snake around the back of the hilt and weave its self into the flawless stainless steel blade with engraved flames on the blade. It was one piece of the few he had always had with him to unravel his clouded past.

The vision reflected in the blade of the dagger hadn't changed a whole lot since he last remembered then again he could only remember the previous five years of his life everything else was a haze. The same black hair was evident but he grew it out from the short spiky hair he had five years ago. His face still the same and he still had the steel grey eyes.

_That's the fifth time this week this dream won't leave me alone, _he thought this dream plagued him for years now, but was steadily getting worse. Pushing the blade back under his pillow along with the dream out of his mind he set about his new day. Pushing aside things wasn't anything new to Tim McCloudhe had done it a lot over the years.

His first memory was waking up out of a black unconsciousnessin an old alleyway his clothes and body in a wreck his shirt (or what was left of it) was slashed and was crusted with his dried blood His pants were in a similar state. He was barefoot and his head felt like it was split all the way to the bone, he staggered out of the alleyway to find him self on a place called McCloud street. He sat down hard on the curb to stop the endless spinning of his head slowly it stopped and he tried to think clearly about what was going on, and then it hit him..... he couldn't remember who he was. He started to panic, but somehow calmed himself down and he thought about a way to remember. Realizing he was sitting on his wallet he pulled it out, but didn't have much luck all he found was an ID with only his first name Tim, and a card to an account at a bank in the city. He checked him self into a local hospital to get help for his wounds and after a week was back on the street. The people at the hospital gave him a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt to get him started. The first thing he did was go to the bank to find out about his identity, but unfortunately he couldn't find anything. He did find how ever he was apparently in good financial status the bank account was apparently set up by him a few years ago, but without any personal information except for his first name Tim. Seeing nothing but dead ends he set about finding the needed essentials food, clothing, and a place to live.

Seeing as money wasn't a problem he set out to a local clothing shop to buy some things to wear and new shoes also. He then set about the city to look for a place to live, he checked out many apartments, but they were unwilling to have him be a tenant seeing as he only looked about sixteen and had no parents. He searched most of the day and thought he would have to get a hotel for the night, but the last place he tried was the one for him. The apartment was big very big it was a penthouse suit and offered many modern comforts. It had a higher level platform from the wood floor below it the walls were a brick with a white drywall that ran all the way to the kitchen area, it was dotted with various pieces of furniture and it split off to the two bedrooms and bathroom. It had a great view of the Jump City bay and the bridge crossing it. An old couple ran the building and said he could have it for a fair price too so he took the offer and began his new life there.

He spent two of the last three years trying to find who he was, but to no avail he ran into deeper ends and more questions. Soon he gave up trying which he didn't do very often, but he had no choice he had to get on with his life. He tried to go to school, but he soon found out that he didn't need it he could already pass college which he did at seventeen and got his major in criminal justice. He tried to work at the local PD, but they rejected him because he was to young. So for the next few years he worked at a small grocery store in town that was attached to a closed down bar. He got the job (even though he had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life) so he could have something to do. In his spare time he would help the store's owner John Levier and his son Percy rebuild the old bar to start a second business as a club/café for teens. He also found a new thing that interested him the guitar he practiced so much him, Percy, and a friend of Percy's joined up and had a band called Night Fox which attracted a lot of business to the club. His life was good now today was his last day working at the store and tomorrow he would start his new police job.

_I better get going after all I have a job to keep up for another day before my new one starts. _He thought, and a little while later clad in a pair of loose fit blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt he rode off down the street on his motorcycle to the store.

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A/N If you want please review this is my first fic. I know it starts out slow but it will get better I promise.


	2. Returning Past

Disclaimer: I don't any of the songs or characters in this story.

_Italics = thoughts_

Chapter Two: Returning Past

The dark exotic teen known as Raven sat alone on the roof top of the Titan Tower. She was hovering a few feet off the ground reflecting of what had happened over last five years between herself and her team mates. Things had definitely changed since he was gone. She remembered that cursed day five years ago.

-Flashback-

The skies were dark that morning hints of a bad storm were rolling in by the minute the tensions were high that day because of Slade's newest plot to destroy Jump City. They had all seen what it did first hand...many times in fact. It wasn't something you would expect to level entire blocks, but it was the most dangerous weapon they had ever seen it was a small black cube that would give off enormous amounts of energy. They would never know where Slade had gotten it, but it didn't really matter they had to stop it. The first time they saw it action was when Slade took it out for a test run. He chose the docks down at the Jump City bay, luckily no one was there, but when he set the device off it leveled everything completely and the Titans barely escaped it. After that they redoubled their efforts to stop Slade.

Clouds were now flashing with lightning and clapping with thunder as the Titans rushed into the city trying to keep up with Slade. Raven and Starfire were flying down low through the streets weaving in and out of cars, while Cyborg and Robin were running full tilt on the roof tops leaping and bounding to keep up with the girls, and Beast Boy faster than all of them was in his cheetah mode and was hard on Slade's heels.

The chase took them through down town and soon they found themselves in the east side corner of the city. Slade finally stopped running and turned to fight the Titans. Beast Boy was there first and changed into a huge Gorilla and grappled with the masked evil. Even he put up a good fight Slade still was better and sent the changeling crashing into the parked cars knocking him cold. Starfire and Raven then showed up then but were soon dispatched like the changeling Starfire crashed into a street lamp next to beast boy which bent and fell on both of them. Raven proved to be a little more challenge for Slade, but still not a match for him as he sent her crashing through a wall of an apartment building. Cyborg being faster than Robin showed up, but was immediately taken down with an Electro Magnetic Pulse disk that shut down his cybernetic body in a shower of sparks and arcing electricity.

So then it was down to just Robin and Slade they circled each other carefully as Robin took out his Bo staff. A great battle ensued both trading punches, kicks and jabs. Slowly Robin gained the upper hand and sent Slade into a brick wall. Seeing that he was losing Slade pulled out his new weapon and was going to level half the city with it. By this time the rest of the Titans were awake, and seeing that the weapon was going to be set off quickly sprang into action.

Raven awoke to see that Starfire had grabbed the still sparking Cyborg and flew off with Beast Boy. _Where are they going?_ She thought, she flew out of the now collapsed building she was in. Her thoughts suddenly came to Robin _Where is he?_ she thought to her self. When she made it back to the battle field she soon saw why her friends left so quickly. The scene was bathed in an eery red light coming from the black box in Slade's hand, he and Robin were circling each other as the red light quickly shifted to a bright orange....he was going to destroy Robin and half of Jump City!

Quickly she flew to Robin to get him to come with her away from the soon to be totaled street.

"Robin! We have to get out of here NOW!" she cried.

"No! I will end this here now. I will not leave this spot to let hundreds of people die!" he shouted back.

"Do you really think you can stop me BOY? Get any closer and you will be destroyed!" menaced Slade.

Which was true the box was giving off so much energy it was slowly melting the pavement beneath his feet.

_ How can I stop this?! _Robin shouted in his head. _Wait! Why isn't he being affected by this? _He looked to see Slade in a literal eye of the storm everything was being destroyed around him, but he wasn't affected at all. _That's it! If I can get above him_ _I can destroy the box and stop Slade once and for all! _Robin had his plan, but he would need help.

Raven looked on as the energy box was turning back into a deep red charging for the final wave of energy. _What are we going to do? _She thought, she couldn't even begin to think of how to stop this madness. Robin suddenly appeared next to her he seemed anxious.

"Raven?" he asked calmly as the raging storm seemed to intensify the direness of their situation.

"What is it?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Do you trust me?" he leaned closer.

"Yes I always have" she replied. She could see something in his eyes, but she couldn't tell what.

"Then you need to do exactly what I tell you, and don't do anything else alright?"

"Um....I don't...what are you-"

"Please Raven just do this"

"Alright..what is it"

"Use all your power to create a shield I need you to get me as close to Slade as possible"

Nodding in reply she started forward summoning all of her emotions to their full strength to create a small powerful black wall between herself and Robin, and their enemy. 

"Now what?" she called getting as close to Slade as she could while still holding the shield strong.

He came close to her again and leaned in and said, "If I don't make it out of this I want you to know something." They were now face to face. "I love you" and he kissed her on her soft lips. She at first thought it was a figment of her imagination at first, but when she saw that it wasn't she got scared she thought that this out burst would break her concentration, but instead it made her feel strong.

Racing back a few feet before she could say anything he used his bo staff to pole vault over Raven and the energy field. I t all seemed to slow down for Raven as she watched Robin soar towards Slade.

"Get away now!...Please Raven!" he yelled getting closer, now right above Slade.

But she didn't move it might have been shock, it could have been stubbornness, but what she would come to see later on was that it was love that kept her where she was. In the next moment it all came to an end. Robin landed right in the eye in front of Slade, and in one move pulled up the butt of his staff right into Slade's chin and then smashed the box in Slade's hand with a swinging blow from the same end of the staff. Robin thought it was over Slade was out cold and the box smashed, but something unexpected happened. Instead of the energy dissipating it lost some of its power and erupted in a purple tidal wave of energy. Raven put her full power into her shield, but the two conflicting forces of energy exploded causing Raven to be catapulted far from the battle scene.

Which saved her from the rest of the terrifying ordeal and the madness that would come from it. The purple waves intensified and in a horrendous display of power it leveled entire blocks of the city. The energy gathered then and in an intense maelstrom of swirling energy it returned to the smashed box still in Slade's hand. His armor was being crushed and torn apart cast into the winds of energy and slicing Robin to shreds. The armor on Slade was crumpling and destroying him and as quickly and suddenly as it started it stopped and a deadly quiet settled over the leveled scene as if this part of the city never existed.

Raven woke up to find Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy all standing around her. __

"Where am I?" she questioned them.

"In the middle of down town." said Cyborg still sparking from the EMP disk still on his chest.

"How did I get here?" she said rubbing the side of her head groggily.

"You were catapulted over here." said Beast Boy as he was trying to get rid of the EMP disk.

"Yes friend Raven I caught you as you fell out of the sky." said Starfire as she was also trying get the disk off with out hurting Cyborg.

Realization hit her as she jumped up and started flying to the battle scene to find Robin.

The rest flew after her Starfire carrying Cyborg after getting the disk off, and Beast Boy followed in his eagle form. Quickly arriving at the scene as the rain started to fall again she saw him right away. He had miraculously survived the energy wave, but he was broken. His clothes were in shreds as his blood dripped off the ends of the shreds and his cape flapped on the ground next to him on top of it was his utility belt. He had a stunned look on his face. She could tell he was slipping into madness having spent many years controlling her emotions she had a sixth sense about them in other people. They all landed near him she was closest of all. She knelt next to him and noticed the crushed body of Slade a few feet away. She ignored it she leaned closer to him she knew what she had to do. Bringing her hand to his temples she began to chant and went deep into his mind. She saw many things that she did not expect to find his child hood, his sense of devotion to the team, the driving need to surpass all things in his way, hatred for all things that oppressed and destroyed peace. But two of the strongest emotions came to her in a rush one was an overwhelming sense of guilt of letting down his friends, his mentor Batman, the city and its people, and most of all himself. The second one came through strong, but was crumbling with his on coming madness his love for her. She suddenly felt his mind snap, but concentrating hard she brought him back. She thought she saved him she slowly slid the mask from his face to show his eyes.... instantly his mind rushed forward with hate, sorrow, and guilt. He was struggling with her now because his subconscious told him it was all his fault. The struggle was breif she was losing, she tried one last time, but something happened then that no one expected the struggle caused Raven to lose control of her powers and in a blinding flash and a scream from Raven he disappeared leaving her holding nothing, but his mask.

-End Flashback-

She was crying now the tears flowing freely as she remembered what has happened. The whole team searched for years, but they could not find him for all they knew he could be on another planet. Nobody blamed Raven for what had happened after she told them what had happened, but she blamed herself. For two years she pretty much locked her self in her room to deal with what had happened. During that time things had changed......she had changed as well. She realized that not letting out her emotions was the reason why she lost control of her powers and when she opened up she had complete control of her powers now. She learned that she had always had a crush on Robin, but fear had buried that until she finished her soul searching.

Other things had changed as well. Terra had returned and was accepted back to the Titans she and Beast Boy who was now as tall as Starfire were going to be married soon. Starfire losing Robin wasn't as bad as she thought she actually confided in Raven that Robin was to much of a brother to her for anything romantic. Starfire looked pretty much the same as she had always been except she was now more accustomed to Earth's ways and wasn't nearly as....ignorant as she was before. Cyborg nearly took it as hard as Raven for the first year he was in mostly a shocked stupor to really connect with any of the Titans, but eventually he got therapy for what had happened and was back to normal. He constantly changed over the last few years with new technology he was as always the most high tech of the time his armor was now a dark blue and chrome, but his human side was still the same. Looking at herself now she had changed physically as well she was a little taller than Terra, and about a head shorter than Beast Boy. She wasn't as gothic as she was before now having full control of her powers, but she still had that dark, mysterious, and exotic presence to her.

She sighed her now shoulder length violet hair swaying in the wind, she had to clear her head she thought she levitated to her room and changed into blue hip hugger jeans and a white short sleeved shirt with a blue star on it. She slipped on her white cross trainers and went down the elevator careful to avoid any of the Titans. She then flew deep into the city to find something to distract her............

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A/N Okay so here is my second chapter if you want R&R. Tell me what you think.

I would especially like to thank my first reviewers

Blue Fire Krazed- Thanks for the note on details.

HamHamDude-Thanks a lot.


	3. Away from the Sun

Disclaimer: I don't any of the songs or characters in this story.

_Italics = thoughts_

Away From the Sun

Time seemed to fly by for Tim as he raced into the city. As always he was darting in and

out of traffic on the freeway. People usually said he would eventually crash, _And that might be true_ he mused to himself as he dodged past a red Corvette. But right then he didn't care this was part of his past he could feel it, like a lifelong friend always there. There are many things that made him feel this way, like he felt like who he was. _It's strange_ he thought again flying through traffic the roar of his red and black chopper creating a wall of sound to drown out everything else except his thoughts, _how is it that I have these different parts of me from my past, and not know where they came from? _Not paying much attention to the red light that appeared on the sign he snapped out of his trance quick enough to slide within an inch of the gold pick up in front of him. As he waited he thought of the different keys to his past, the dagger for one was probably the most confusing it was kind of gothic, but he wasn't goth at anytime that he could remember. The other keys so to say only unlocked doors to more doors of questions. He had an uncanny sense of technological know how he could work with any kind auto mobile or other vehicle. There was also his ability to keep his patience while those...less intelligent made ignorant mistakes. He had a great respect also for animals and nature one that you wouldn't associate with an eighteen year old boy. _Why do all of these seem to be connected by something more than just my past? _The light by then had changed green and some very angry drivers blared their horns at him pushing him to move. _Got to concentrate _he thought and gunned the throttle and flew down the freeway leaving the others in the dust, but not his questions with them...........

Tim finally made it to the store he parked his bike and got off. He looked up at the sign above the store like he always did. The sign read Hawk Groceries in green letters except the A in Hawk and the G, O, and C in Groceries was faded pretty badly. _I always said I would repaint that sign... _he thought _...I actually better do it today. _He sighed and walked through the ally way between the red bricked store and the new concrete building next to it, and made his way to a small shed in the ally way. Getting out the paint bucket, ladder, and a brush he went back to the front to begin his work. It took him half an hour to paint the sign he then started down the latter when Percy came bolting down the street obviously late for work. _Again _thought Tim.

"Hey T!" said Percy not slowing down a bit.

"Hey Percy late again?" said Tim as Percy drew closer.

"Yeah dad is going to kill me!" he said now trying to skid enough to stop in front of the front door.

"WATCH OUT PERCY!"

But to late Percyskidded right into the latter in effect snapping the latter together and left Tim walking on them like stilts while trying not to drop the paint.

"Sorry T." he said, but didn't stop and rushed inside. _Great now what? _he thought to him self. A strong gust of wind caught the latter and made Tim fall off landing on the side walk and the paint can landed right on his head drenching him in paint.

"PERCY!" he yelled, but then he thought _Wait a minute where's the latter? _And as if to answer his question the latter fell on him one of the rungs bashed him right in the forehead.

"PERCY...." he yelled again "I'm GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!"...........

Raven walked down the street as thoughts and memories resurfaced themselves in unwanted surging waves. She tried to clear her head, but still couldn't. _I just need to distract myself... _she thought. A slight breeze blew through her dark purple hair _... but I miss him so damn much. _The wind had picked up and now could hardly see because of her tears. She stopped and composed herself for a few minutes and noticed the scent of fresh paint and looked up to see that she had ended up at the least likely of places a café/ club and grocery store. The café/ club was called LIVEWIRE it was next to a small store called Hawk Groceries and she decided to go in it was an okay place very plain and also looked like most of the decor was mostly blue neon lights and modern stainless steel. She seated herself on a small armchair at the khaki of the large room near the stage that was there. She used her powers to make a book appear from nowhere. She turned to last place she left off in her book _The Drawing of the Three_ by Stephen King and began to read while she waited for a waiter. She stared at the page she was reading, but couldn't focus on the words on the page no matter how hard she tried she couldn't focus on reading so she decided to just watch the other people at the café. There was a good number of people at the surrounding tables she watched, she also noticed that two people were on the stage setting up for the small crowd in the café. Soon she was able to calm her self down to try and read again.

Tim walked into the front of the store after putting the paint (or what was left of it), and the latter back in the shed. He was covered in the dark green paint and had a nasty headache from where the latter hit him in the head.

"Tim I said paint the sign out front not yourself in the process." Came a voice from behind him.

Tim turned to see a tall figure in khakis, a white shirt and a green apron walking toward him. It was Percy's father and the store owner James Levier. "Well I can thank your son for that I learned two things from this though green is not my color and to not paint until I make sure Percy isn't working." said Tim as he headed to the back room to wash up.

"Well when you get cleaned up go a head and play at the café. It's kinda full today and the store well isn't so the customers will need some entertainment."

"Alright... are Percy and Brook already set up?''

"Doing so now as we speak."

And with that Tim went to the back room and washed up. A shot of aspirin and fifteen minutes later he was walking onto the stage were Percy and a dark haired, green eyed girl about his age were waiting.

"Hey Tim." she called

"Hey Brook.....you two ready to start?" he said as he strapped on his guitar and plugged it into an amp.

"Yeah Man." called Percy as he got ready on the drums.

"Whenever you are Tim." said Brook were she had her guitar plugged in and ready to go.

"Alright let's do this." said Tim.

Raven was now deep into her book, but she could hear in the back round a band started to play on stage she chose to ignore it and it worked for a while, but soon she was watching the show that the band was putting on. There was a red headed boy on the drums he wasn't bad _actually he is pretty good_ she thought. The girl on the left side of the stage was strumming out a great bass in tune with the drums, but these two were only a small thought in the back of her mind when she saw the lead singer. He was of average height about a head taller than the girl on the stage. He was clad in blue jeans and a black t-shirt, the medium length of black hair fell to the sides of his head. She wasn't even listening to the song they were singing right then something about him was different, but she couldn't place it. It was frustrating _why does it matter anyway? _She thought about it, but the more she did the more frustrating it was. She was brought out of her trance by the clapping of the audience as they finished their song.

"Thank you! Thank you very much!" said the lead singer. "Night fox is going to take a break, but before we go we are going to do one more song.... So here it is 'Away From the Sun'"

The dark haired girl struck up a few chords then the lead singer joined in and after a few seconds the red haired boy struck the cymbals and the song started.

It's down to this I got to make this life make sense

Can anyone tell what I've done?

I missed the life I missed the colors of the world.

Can anyone tell where I am?

Cause now again I've found myself

so far down away form the sun that shines into the darkest place.

I'm so far down away from the sun again. Away from the sun again.

Tim was watching the crowd when his eye caught this girl off to the corner of the room. She was pale skinned with dark hair and in his opinion the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

_Wow she's hot!_ He thought to himself, _I've got to get to know her better. _He continued on.

I'm over this. I'm tired of living in the dark

can anyone see me down here?

The feelings gone. There's nothing left to lift me up back into the world I know.

Cause now again I've found myself

so far down away form the sun that shines into the darkest place.

I'm so far down away from the sun. That shines the to light the way for me to find my way back into the arms that care about the ones like me. I'm so far down away from the sun again.

Ohh noooooooooo! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah! Oh noooooooooo!

It's down to this. I've got to make this life make sense.

And now I can't tell what I've done.

Now again I've found myself so far down away from the sun

that shines to light the way.. for me.

Cause now again I've found myself

so far down away form the sun that shines into the darkest place.

I'm so far down away from the sun. That shines the to light the way for me to find my way back into the arms that care about the ones like me. I'm so far down away from the sun agaaaaaain.

Ohh noooooooooo! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'mmmmmmm goooooone........

He then saw the mysterious girl applaud with the rest of the audience and his heart skipped a beat she was looking at him with a smile on her face. She then got up and left through the doors that led back top the store.

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A/N: Sorry it's short but when you have to work have little time to write. Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon.

Nightwing 426


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